We will be staying in Bologna and will be renting a car. The plan is to travel to Parma.
The hope is to visit parmesan production on our own finding locations without going in a group. Also hoping to visit balsamic vinegar and ham production.
Any suggestions creating our own itinerary?
We will be visiting late July through the beginning of August
Our B&B host in Modena highly recommends this acetaia, and we have booked a tour in late August.
https://visit.acetaiagambiglianizoccoli.com/en/65a67ea600ade6156e853283?lang=en
I'm editing to add: I know you're planning visiting on your own, but we are doing a private tour of all three on your list with a local guide I found through lots of research on the forum. We meet at 8:30 a.m. in front of Reggio Emilia Centrale and end around 3. If this is something that interests you, let me know.
You don't need to go to Parma. You can see visit a cheese farm and balsamic vinegar in Castelvetro in the province of Modena. As mentioned, cheese you need to be there around 8:30 am (Castelvetro is closer than Parma from Modena also). I have a friend that does private tours- I use her for my friends and her tours are not group tours. She's on Instagram if you want to check her our or message her... alyandiamo. I live nearby half the year so welcome to my world!
As told above, please remember that food producers are not museums, so cannot be really visited alone. Is always necessary to be lead by a guide and even the places who have internal guides gather some tourists before doing the visit.
Dairy is easier as visit because now several ones arrange tours and as Linda says there are some dairies closer to Bologna. So you don't need to start very early. Ask to the dairy which is the best time to see while the cheesemakers are making the cheese.
Parma's ham is a little more tricky, because few producers are opened for visits.
